ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE Rural Community Development Society (RCDS) The profile of RCDS contains general information about the organization, rationale of working, implementation strategy, geographical outreach, details of development partners, thematic program areas, pictorial glimpse of past projects implemented, details of beneficiaries served and current projects being implemented in the field 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1.1 Organization Details Organization Name: Rural Community Development Society Acronym/ Abbreviation: RCDS Office Address: House # 4-D, Al Rehman Garden, Phase II, Sharaqpur Sharif Road, Lahore. Pakistan Telephone No: +92 42 37170280-81 Fax No: +92 42 37902831 E-mail Address: [email protected] Web Page: www.rcdspk.org Registration No: RP/6061/L/S/98/570 Date of Registration: July 3, 1998 Registration As: Society under Societies Act, 1860 Renewal No: RS/NNS/749/Renewal Area of Operation: Punjab province Renewal Valid till: May 2021 General Body Members: 10 (Men 6 & Women 4) Board of Directors: 7 (Men 4 & Women 3) Core Staff: 7 Advisors: 3 Project Staff: 138 Volunteers: 15 Account Title: Rural Community Development Account No: 0591857741000727 Society Bank Name: MCB Bank Limited Bank Branch: Mandi Faizabad Branch (1470) NTN No: 3583910-4 Financial Year: July to June PCP Certification No: PCP-R2/2018/194 Valid till: April 2021 Tax Exemption Status: Yes - u/s 2(36) Valid till: June 2021 Name of Auditors: Rafaqat Mansha Mohsin Dossani Masoom & Co. 1.2 Organization Contacts Contact 1 Contact 2 Name: Muhammad Murtaza Name: Qaisar Iqbal Designation: Chairperson Designation: Managing Director Contact: +92 300 9458264 | +92 333 7399994 Contact: +92 300 8827928 | +92 333 7266668 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Page 1 of 13 2. BACKGROUND & INTRODUCTION Rural Community Development Society (RCDS) started its journey of socio-economic development in 1995 by group of young professionals at small town, Mandi Faizabad (65Km distant from provincial capital of Punjab province). The energetic youth group under the leadership of Mr. Muhammad Murtaza envisioned an organization that would help the ultra-poor households to organize and work collectively for breaking the poverty cycle through provision of opportunities in Human & Institutional Development, Social Mobilization, Livelihood & Employment and Physical Infrastructure Development. The collective efforts started with the support of local philanthropists and initial years spent by the founding members for carrying out planning activities including community organization, area profiling, multi-dimensional social & development study and poverty assessment. After the successful profiling of the target area, clear goals and objectives were defined by the team and RCDS registered itself as a Society under Societies Registration Act, 1860 on July 3, 1998 at district Nankana Sahib of Punjab province with mandate of working at provincial level in Punjab, Pakistan. Organizational policies and procedures documented and management approached different donor organization working for the socio-economic development of marginalized communities. During initial 2-3 years, RCDS established its partnership with South Asia Partnership-Pakistan and Trust for Voluntary Organization for social mobilization, rights awareness, establishment of non-formal schools, community based social enterprises and micro- loans for livelihood opportunities. However, the journey of transformational development started in 2001 after partnership with Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF). Multi-dimensional area development program including poverty scorecard, microfinance, community physical infrastructure, education and health projects initiated in district Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib. This longstanding institutional partnership with PPAF opens up the new horizons for RCDS management and its outreach increased to 19 districts of Punjab province at the moment. So far, 655,069 households have benefitted from the services of RCDS through multi-sectoral development programs. 3. VISION & MISSION Vision: “Socio-economic empowerment of society where all citizens avail their potential for the societal benefits on equal basis” Mission: “A struggle for a just and democratic society through making marginalized communities’ socio- economically empowered” Page 2 of 13 4. OBJECTIVES RCDS is working to achieve the following objectives: 1. Develop an institutional infrastructure to infuse and promote sustainable participatory approach and shared vision at grassroots level 2. Help reduce unemployment and alleviate poverty by exploiting appropriate resources and employing appropriate mechanisms for promotion of economic activities 3. Increase the access of the poor communities to better health and education facilities 4. Access to the better Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation Facilities 5. Improve the human and technical capabilities of the poor through certain capacity building initiatives 6. Help women development through the provision of opportunities for them to participate in the process of development 7. Productive physical infrastructure development 8. Promote the innovation and value addition in horticulture and agriculture sector 9. Gender empowerment, NRM & Advocacy Networking 10. Protect environment and promote cleaner and greener Pakistan 11. Emergency Response and Rehabilitation 5. CORE VALUES Page 3 of 13 6. THEMATIC PROGRAM AREAS 1. Human, Institutional Development & Social Mobilization 2. Skills Development & Women Empowerment 3. Community Physical Infrastructure Development 4. Education 5. Agriculture 6. Governance 7. Health & Nutrition 8. Social Safety Net & Livelihoods 9. Water, Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH) 10. Disaster Response and Management 7. CONTRIBUTION TO MDGs and SDGs RCDS has been working by considering the contribution to the global commitments done by Government of Pakistan for human empowerment and sustainable development. Prior to SDGs, RCDS has significantly contributed to MDGs through decade long sectoral development programs. All the program interventions are being designed by considering the overall targets and indicators defined in Sustainable Development Goals; and objectives are aligned for contribution to following sustainable development goals: Page 4 of 13 8. GEOGRAPHICAL OUTREACH RCDS has geographical footprints in 19 districts of central and south Punjab of Pakistan. Head office based at Lahore while having district office in each working district. Registered Office: Mandi Faizabad, District Nankana Sahib Head Office: Lahore Regional Office: Faisalabad & Multan Current projects are being implemented in district - Sheikhupura - Nankana Sahib - Layyah - Bhakkar Page 5 of 13 9. GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE & ORGANOGRAM Governance of RCDS managed through 7 members of Board of Directors comprising of 4 men and 3 women. While overall management is being administered by Managing Director for day to day operations. Regular meetings of Board of Directors and Senior Management Team conducted to ensure the good governance practices. Board of Directors for Year 2020-25 Sr. Name Designation Profession 1. Mr. Muhammad Murtaza Chairperson Social Entrepreneur 2. Ms. Shahida Rafique Secretary to Board Gender Expert 3. Ms. Hina Tahir Member Educationist 4. Mr. Nauman Rehmat Member Development Professional 5. Ms. Humaira Siddique Member Educationist 6. Mr. Chaudhry Naeem Ahmed Member Journalist 7. Mr. Akbar Ali Tariq Member Educationist Organogram - RCDS Page 6 of 13 10. PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY Rural Community Development Society strongly believes that indigenous knowledge of local communities has pivotal role in identification of social issues and the alternate solutions. We implement our projects with bottom up approach and communities remain engaged right start from the planning phase of any program. Communities and relevant stakeholders consulted on regular basis during the project lifecycle for ensuring the sustainability of implemented programs/ projects. This methodology also impart ownership among the working communities and indigenous resources also contributed during the implementation by field teams. This is the reason that we have social & human capital in shape of Community Organizations, Village Organizations, Local Support Organizations, WASH Committees, Health Committees, Education Committees, Disaster Resilience Committees, Community Resource Persons and Volunteers who supported us to implement the multi-sectoral development programs. Participatory Rural Appraisal tools used by the social mobilization teams for area profiling, identification of beneficiaries, community organization and management in communities. Democratic processes introduced and practiced for all tiers of community groups, plan for capacity building of community institutions formulated and executed with the support of senior team members. RCDS teams play the role of bridge among the community institutions and Government department for ensuring the effective and efficient service delivery. Linkages created for community institutions through local advocacy tools to solve the problems at local level with the facilitation of field teams of RCDS. For infrastructure or procurement related projects, joint procurement committee (consisting of members from community and RCDS staff) formed for implementation. This ensures the transparency and accountability among the partners leading to the effective program management and trusted relationship at grassroots level. Process monitoring and outcome monitoring continued